The Last Breath
by Von
Summary: "When the first baby laughed for the first time, that laugh broke into a thousand pieces and that, was the beginning of fairies." It has been a very long time since that first laugh. It's time for a new beginning. (Slow updates, if any.)
1. The End

Fair warning: This is super short.

I've borrowed some names/characters from the books (or the wiki rather) but I won't be including some elements such as wand-using fairies, Mother Dove, the Lost Boys and Indians. A few lines have been borrowed from Harry Potter Book 7. 

"_We are part of you"_ ~ The Dead, to Harry Potter. (Bk7)

**Hallows**

A green spell slammed into a waiting teen, throwing him into the tree behind him with such force that it shook loose a shower of old growth.

Harry Potter hit the ground.

High above, a winter-withered winged seed spun and tumbled downward.

"_You are the true master of death, _

_Because the true master does not seek to run away from Death._

_He accepts that he must die,_

_And understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world_

_Than dying."_

"I've got to go back, haven't I?"

"_That is up to you. _

_Do not pity the dead, Harry._

_Pity the living. _

_By returning, you may ensure that fewer souls are maimed."_

"The boy… is he dead?" Demanded Voldemort, getting to his feet. "You!" A bang, a shriek. "Go check on him!"

Narcissa Malfoy knelt by the boy, rolled him over and peeled back an eyelid. She saw his pupil contract and released it to slip her hand beneath his shirt, over his heart.

Withered leaves and seeds spiraled gently to the ground around them, one flipping and tumbling down directly over the boy. It brushed his lips just she felt the heartbeat under her hand, cease, and a final breath flipped the seed to the side. As if magic itself was marking the boy's passing a sudden stiff wind caught it and all the leaves around it, shooting them high into the sky.

"He's dead, My Lord." The woman on the ground shakily reported, but the cheers that followed were unimportant.

The surrounding, silent centaurs, bearing witness to an event they had seen coming for generations, lifted their eyes in salutation before fading away into the depths of the forest to wait out the war.

An end was a beginning, always. The Master of Death had died, was born.

The events that followed, the fear and anger and defiance, the protection of the many at the cost of one brave teen and the victory that came from everyone finally standing for themselves, their loved ones and Harry Potter…

That was another story.

This one is about one very special, very lonely last breath of life, carried on the wind to Neverland.

**Hallows**

Part 2 going up immediately.


	2. The Beginning

**Hallows**

The seed made (was making) her nervous.

She'd caught it out over the ocean, practicing her talent safely away from people and things that could be damaged from strong winds. She'd been excited to find it at first. Her talent wasn't as strong as some - especially, say, Vidia - and so she often didn't 'hear' a new seed until after another wind fairy had already found it and taken over guiding it in.

She wished she hadn't heard _this_ one.

Normal seeds caught the first laugh of a child, increasing its chances of traveling safely through the skies instead of fading into the world and becoming just a bright patch of joy or colour. Those seeds radiated the happiness of the child who had laughed, the soft content that made the core of all fairies pure if not incorruptible.

This seed radiated _loss_, like contentment had been given up, not gained. There was no echo of laughter, only the last quiet sigh of a resolute soul.

Guiding it wasn't exactly easy either. It was a maple seed and they usually spun in a clever little circle to slow their fall. She'd guided them before and so long as they had a stiff wind beneath them, they flew straight and true - but this was a double-seed, still connected in the middle and that threw everything off. She had to put her all into keeping it aloft, catching every flip and tumble that would see it streak downwards and shifting the winds to compensate.

Her hands were shaking and sweat poured from her forehead by the time she approached the Pixie Dust Tree. Relieved to almost be done, she didn't see the Queen approach until she was right in front of her.

"_Don't let that seed touch the tree!"_

Tizzywing shrieked a little and fumbled the seed, another fast-flying fairy thankfully darting in and flurrying it up again.

"Thank you." The Queen thanked them both, calming slightly but still with an edge of tension. "It is absolutely vital that you do not let it touch _anything _in Pixie Hollow. Follow me, quickly."

So saying the Queen flew off at speed, a sight almost unseen for the fairy who could manifest herself anywhere in the Hollow by will alone. For the wind fairies following her, it was necessary.

Tizzywing sighed and smiled a quick thanks to Elwood - the other fairy who had darted in to help. Working together, they rerouted the seed and guided it after the Queen.

They flew and flew, over the Summer Glen and out to sea. The sun, already setting, was a glimmer of red light on the misty horizon and the ocean stretched below them, dark and foreboding.

"Here, bring it here."

The Queen descended. The two fast-flying fairies followed her. The mist parted to reveal a looming, ugly shape against a frothing sea.

Skull Rock.

They entered through one of the eyes and made a beeline towards the spare Pixie Dust tree, barely a sapling but already strong as it wrapped itself around a stone outcropping at the very centre of the massive skull-shaped cavern. Zarina had nurtured it well in the year she'd been gone and since returning home, various Dustkeeper fairies made regular journeys to tend to and guide its growth. Their lights shone in the dark now as they noticed the three incoming fairies and flittered up inquiringly.

Then they heard the seed, and shivered.

"Stand back." The Queen warned them, then to the two fast-fliers: "A moment, please."

She glided to the centre of the tree where branches had been gently coaxed away from Zarina's configuration and into something curled and flattened - an Arrival point-to-be, some time in the future.

It seemed that time would be _now_.

The Queen touched down and began to glow. Power radiated from her, surging into the tree and directing it to grow _here_ and _there_ and _just so_. Not even she could accelerate its growth to that of the ancient pixie dust tree on the island, but it would be just enough.

In fact, for the fairy it was about to receive… it was perfect.

She fluttered up and gestured for the two fast-fliers to allow the seed to land. There was something deeply sad in her eyes even as her expression returned to something more familiar and welcoming.

The seed touched down in the centre of the spiral. The sigh it had carried was briefly amplified, spreading through the tree which shivered beneath it.

Nervous, the attending dustkeeper fairies took wing.

Queen Clarion cupped her hands and poured pixie dust down onto the seed. It glowed and shifted - then dimmed and smoldered.

The watching fairies gasped and looked to their Queen, whose calm serenity didn't waver. They looked back just in time to see golden dust become green, not like a richly living leaf but sickly and flickering like the spectral fire found on ships caught in the wildest of storms. A kneeling body straightened up, skin paler than any fairy before before him and hair blacker than night. The seed that had carried him now clothed him, veiny light-brown cladding that covered him from the waist down.

And his wings… They unfurled without the aid of the Queen's touch. They weren't _normal_, weren't slender pixie wings made of moonlight, but tattered skeletal monarch wings - like a nightmarish parody of the Queen's - that arched in inky black lines and jagged patterns, not an elegant curve or swirl to be seen. As he stood, they fanned to keep him balanced - surprising him. Green eyes, deep and dark, stared - at the hovering fairies, the tree that still trembled faintly beneath him and the woman clothed in gold and crowned with winter-bare .

"This is… not what I was expecting." The new fairy spoke first, confused and wary, lacking the wide-eyed awe of the newly-born. He looked young, as all fairies did, but the weariness in his eyes and posture made him seem older - like the Lords and Ladies of the Queen.

As though his voice was a tipping point, the tree's continuing trembles settled… and the trickle of golden pixie dust it had been steadily producing shifted to an eerie green before every single leaf upon the desperately young tree abruptly withered and fell away. None would ever grow again.

"Very few of us were expecting this." The Queen smiled, even as all other attending fairies recoiled in horror. "Though I am one of them. Welcome. I am Queen Clarion and my domain is that of the cycle of life and the turn of the seasons. You are my counterpart, your domain is is that of final death, of peace and justice and the clearing of old so that new may arise. You come to us now at the turn of ages, like Summer turning to Fall - but do not be concerned. There is time yet, to steady your wings and find your place. This," She lifted her arms and shone brighter, illuminating the massive cave briefly. "Is your realm, to shape as you see fit and prepare for your duties to come. The tree beneath you will grow as you do, the dust it produces will strengthen you and any future fairies who Arrive here. Those fairies will be yours to guide and teach and to assist you in turn when your Age comes and mine has passed."

The new fairy just stared back at her, comprehending yet not, a life half-forgotten and a purpose deep within whispering in the back of his mind that this was right, this _was_ his and though this woman was his Queen…

Like the sun ruled the sky, it would only be for a time. The sun always set, resigning its authority until the next day dawned. The completion of that thought, the logical conclusion, evaded him for now. Too distracting was the hum of not-life beneath his bare feet, the blinding shine of life in the fairies before him and a nagging sensation in the back of his mind that he had _things to be doing_.

Without even meaning to, he drew power from the tree beneath him and his wings glowed yellow-green with its strength. He lifted up to hover by his regal counterpart, who observed him with steady eyes that had already seen Age upon Age go by.

"I… can't go with you, can I?" He asked, putting words to the instinct that warded him off following these bright little lights, despite his desire to not be left alone here in this dark, cold, wet place. The Queen shook her head, eyes understanding but equally unflinching.

"Your place is here, as mine is in Pixie Hollow. Neither you nor I may touch upon each other's realm now, at risk of unbalancing the world. But take heart: You are _home_. You need only shape it to your liking. Now, as I once named myself, so now must you."

The dark fairy gingerly plucked a wing from behind him, stretching it out to inspect it and the faint shadow of a symbol that repeated along the jagged tips.

"…Hallows." He named himself, snatches of a life once lived all but gone, only this remaining. "My name… is Hallows."

"Welcome, Hallows, Lord of Death and King-in-Waiting, to Neverland."

**Hallows**

This might get continued one day but for now it's complete. I had an alternate version where Hallows didn't get new fairies but was required to conscript from Clarion's when the end of the world was near. They'd become his new court and take over the shutting down/protection of Pixie Hollow to wait out whatever nuclear winter or asteroid or whatever had broken the seasonal rhythm and killed billions. I hope to one day write even just a short oneshot following that idea.

If you feel like expanding on this fic, please do! And drop me a line, I'd love to read it. :)


	3. Vidia

Why are fairies in general called fairies when they use pixie dust? What happened to the pixies? Fairy invasion?

**Hallows**

_Vidia? Could you give me a hand?_

Vidia cocked a lazy ear as she heard her name carried on the hot summer breeze. Only wind-nature fairies could send and receive messages in this way - not that she bothered, mostly. Every _other_ wind-nature fairy could hear whatever was said and Vidia was a private person by nature. She was also sunbathing right now - whatever problem they were having was someone _else's_ problem.

She was mildly surprised that they'd called to her at all. Except for Tink, most fairies respected her prickly personality and gave her a wide berth. It helped that even the friendliest of her clan were loners by nature, more inclined to relax by whipping up a storm over the ocean than chatter mindlessly like certain garden fairies - and _tinkers_ \- she could name.

_Vidia, __**please**__!_

…Well, that was just _terrific_. Not even she could ignore a plea that sounded _that_ desperate.

She got to her feet, habitually fluttering her wings just enough to clear them of dust or dirt and ensure they were in primo condition before rocketing up into the sky. She turned into the breeze that had carried the cry for help and urged it to turn back, to carry her to its source.

She found it on the outskirts of Summer Meadow. Gale, a spiky-haired fairy who was rather weak with winds excepting those that heralded rain, was struggling with a tufted thistle seed.

"Seriously?" Vidia asked, unimpressed. "You called me out for _this_?"

"It's not going to Pixie Hollow." Gale hissed. "It's going.. _You_ know."

_That_ caught her attention. Everyone had heard rumours about a strange new fairy who'd taken over Skull Rock and the baby pixie dust tree at its centre. The dust keepers who'd come back from tending it had come back white-faced and shaking like they'd seen a monster. Queen Clarion had summoned all of Pixie Hollow - including Winter - to make a rare, royal commandment.

No fairy was to step foot on or within Skull Rock upon pain of immediate death.

Naturally, only Tinkerbell had been suicidally curious enough to fly right out there and see why, but luckily the rest of her friends had been enough to stop her. Or, knowing Tink, stall her.

Later, though, a Lord or Lady of each season had been dispatched to speak with the fast-flying fairies in their domains about a new addition to their duties.

The ferrying of new fairy-carrying seeds to the very place they could not touch, for the birth of a new breed of fairies. Such fairies would be rare, they had been assured, but they would come. The fairies who caught them would know them by how abnormal they were. Fear, exhaustion, pain, desperation - these seeds would carry the last breaths of a child's life and belonged within Skull Rock, under the leadership of Lord Hallows - the fairy of Death.

Although the Lords and Ladies had not asked them to keep their knowledge quiet, she didn't know of any who had decided to share the information just yet. It was a frightening thought, that this 'Lord Hallows' should exist at all, let alone this new breed of fairy born of misery.

And this seed before her… it was the first, save Lord Hallows himself. As the wind shifted and curled to help Gale keep it aloft in one location, she heard the slow wheeze of a child's lungs fighting - and failing - to stay alive.

A birth of a fairy was supposed to be a cause for celebration - not mourning.

"So?" She asked after a heartbeat of uncontrolled wariness. "You know where it goes. What do you want from me?"

"Could you take it?" Gale begged, already urging it towards her, forcing Vidia to back away lest it touch her and.. And _taint_ her with that terrible fear. "_Please_ Vidia? I can't- I just _can't_."

Vidia scoffed, putting another foot of space between them.

"Hey, don't go thinking I'll just pick up your slack because you're-"

"I'll do whatever you want!" Gale steamrolled right over her. "Anything. I'm sorry, I just… I panicked, and you've always been the best of us - the strongest talent. _Please_!"

Ego stroked and only capable of resisting so much begging, Vidia sighed and twisted a hand. The wind, always eager to aid her, leapt from Gale's control to hers and shrunk down to contain the seed within a tiny sphere of ever-spinning currents.

"_Thank you Vidia!_" Gale gasped, streaking away as fast as her wings could take her. Vidia rolled her eyes and, as she started towards Skull Rock, began thinking of something sufficiently exhausting and/or disgusting the other fairy could do to pay her back.

Anything to take her mind off the desolate seed in her gentle grasp.

_Hallows_

Skull Rock was… different.

On the outside it was as foreboding as ever but on the inside… it was _worse._ The pixie dust tree looked… twisted. Almost, but not quite, shrivelled. It looked _dead_, despite the slow trickle of (green, but a _wrong_ sort of green) pixie dust it was still producing.

All at once, she felt a shiver right down to her bones. She understood suddenly that Queen's Clarion's warning had been absolutely accurate. If she touched any part of this place… she would die.

Swallowing tightly and regaining a firm grip on the winds that seemed as uneasy as her, she aimed for the familiar (and new) swirling platform at the centre of the tiny tree. She would deliver the seed and _get out_.

Something darker than night and almost skeletal rose suddenly from the topmost branch of the tree. She flinched back, heart pounding - but as they moved in a familiar flutter, green power lit them from within and a trail of eerie green power lit the area enough to see a male fairy with wings similar to the Queen's.

_Lord Hallows_.

She tried to speak but had to clear her throat first to manage it.

"I have a seed for you." She managed, voice barely trembling at all.

"Thank you." The Lord said simply.

She kept half an eye on him as she circled 'round and urged the seed to land precisely.

He was frightening to behold with his sunken and pale skin. Every fairy she'd ever known had been plump and flush with health. There was something lonely within him - something that she felt like a stirring breeze. It made her fear that he might be very happy to see her die within his realm, just so that his loneliness might be sated for a time.

The seed touched down and her wings _burned_ as they got her a good several meters away - far enough to see without possibly touching _anything_ by accident. Part of her argued to just get out and go while she still could… but the part of her that was secretly thrilled to be the first to see the new fairy's birth urged her to stay.

There were no dustkeeper fairies here. There was no-one to pour a ceremonial cup to change essence into fairy. There were no other witnesses to feel/hear/share the moment of pure happiness that had created their new fellow. Lord Hallows just lifted a hand, his whole body glowing with green-yellow fire, and the tree beneath the seed followed suit.

It was as though the entire thing caught alight - except that it burned away only the seed, purifying the essence and - she was relieved to feel - eradicating the pain and fear.

A new life straightened, blinked, looked up and around with wary eyes. He was as pale as his Lord and somehow even bonier. His pants were ragged and his white hair was short and tufted. Black eyes looked at Lord Hallows with something like hope, like somehow the ruin of a fairy knew that whatever suffering had come before was over now. Like they knew they had Lord Hallow to thank for their newfound peace - but still feared it would be snatched away like a dream.

Lord Hallows went to one knee before the kneeling newborn fairy. Hands wreathed in the same fire that had forged the new fairy lifted to cup his cheeks, sending trails of it burning along skin that didn't seem to feel a thing. In its wake, it left blackened whorls and scattered shapes - like that found within a normal fairy's wings, Vidia realised sharply. It wasn't until that exact moment that she realised the fairy below here didn't _have_ any wings! None at all! Except, when Lord Hallows lifted his hands and stepped away, rising into the air to hover with a hand extended, the wingless fairy got to his feet and…

And flew. Darkness matching the shapes on his skin fractured out of his back, lit from within by the same hellish glow that radiated from Lord Hallows. Below him, he trailed unnatural green pixie dust. As he shyly took Lord Hallow's hand and ascended, Vidia found herself backing away even further.

There was _something about him_ that made every hair on her body stand up. Something that spoke of inevitability, of death like a weapon to be wielded.

She thought that maybe even touching one of Hallow's _fairies_ would be enough to die. She wondered if even the humans would fall to their touch.

She wondered if they were _supposed to_.

Then, finally, she fled - missing the new fairy's naming and Lord Hallow's lessening loneliness. As she speared out over the roiling ocean, she decided right then and there that Gale's owed favour would be to take the next 'death seed' _she_ caught. The less she saw of Lord Hallow's awful, empty, lonely realm, the better.

**Hallows**

A few more tiny one-shot ideas are growing for this fic. They'll be uploaded when they're written.


End file.
